My Week(s)--in pictures!

Let me tell you--it's so hard to get everything accomplished on a school night. 

Then, when you think you're able to do it on a weekend--you're tired.  At least I am. 

An extra day sure does help get everything around the house caught up, 

or am I to get school things caught up?  You know, honestly, so far, I haven't done either.  I went shopping!  

I say it was because I was trying to get all my steps in on the ole' Fitbit, but you know! :)

See, for the past few months, I have been trying harder to get my exercise in--and eat right.

I don't think this is what they mean--but it sure is a great idea!

 Then, on the first, I started a new diet.  

So not quite this either---but somedays I feel like it is! ;)

So far, so good--I'm down a few pounds.

10.6 to be exact! (I will celebrate with a cupcake later!) ;)

Me taking care of me has become my number 1 priority.

And because I like what I do--I am telling myself if I get my steps in, 

then I can sit down and work on school things and blog! :)

So moving on-----let's talk school!

Some of my kiddos are working on r-controlled vowels.

I made these activities to help reinforce their phonics skills they are learning in class.

 You can click HERE to grab a set. 

I shared these pages with my coworkers teaching the r controlled vowel, and as glad as I am they were used, I had to change my plans at last minute!  SOO---we worked on/reviewed contractions. 

This is always a great skill to review--the word won't gets them every time.

I was so glad I had this little activity from a few years back.  

You can grab that freebie HERE.

Some of my kiddos are working on Cloze sentences.  

They have mastered a few Dolch lists, and we want to work on "what sounds right."  

 I'm impressed with how far they've come already as this was a struggle a few months ago.

You can find a freebie for this activity HERE.

If you would like to see the set, please click the image below.

I told you in my last blog that I subbed for Kinder last Friday.

After a day in there, and knowing the skills of some of my students I have now, 

I came up with a CvC Fluency Read.

 My struggling kiddos REALLY enjoyed this and I noticed they were picking up
word families the next day in a story I chose.  I was THRILLED!!
Last weekend, I had only made a short vowel A pack.
I have now included e and i. 
O and U will e added soon.

You can click HERE to read more about it--or click HERE to see it on TpT.

I have some groups working on Silent E.

This group said we did this in word work! 

I thought, oh no..not again!
But they said it wasn't with silent E.  Thank goodness!

 

Here's a better image:

 You can grab this freebie and read more about Silent E at this blog post HERE. 

 

Some of my kiddos are working on Nonfiction.

I am LOVING these Nonfiction Fluency Reads they are using. 

You can click HERE to download a sample to try with your students.

 

And finally, most of my groups start out with the fluency reads as a warm up.

I do sight word checks on them to see how they are progressing and to

 see that I'm keeping them at the right level.   

I really do see their sight word knowledge increasing.

*We have had a few delays and many illnesses this past week, 

and due to this some of my groups had only 1 student.  

UGH--there go the plans again right?  WELL---

That was a PERFECT time for me to give them a book and flash cards.

We made flash cards and highlighted the words that were unknown.

This meant that these were the pages they should practice more often. 

I didn't tell them NOT to read the other pages, just focus on the pages that 

were highlighted to help increase their sight word knowledge. 

 

After doing this for a student, I thought---why not all the kids I see?

So I started sending them home..making flash cards..typed a parent letter...

AND do you know what?  What makes me THRILLED about these?

I have told you before they TRULY enjoy reading from these booklets...

but when I was able to give them a book to take home--OH my!

You see, I have end of the day bus duty---and as I was monitoring my section (bigger kids)

I looked over and saw that one of my students had pulled out her book.

She and another 1st grader (not one that I see) were taking turns reading out of the book.

That really made this ole' teacher giddy!

If you'd like to know more about these Fluency Reads, please check a blog post HERE.

 

Other activities that I've been able to do with my students is our Winter Board Games

--these come in handy when I have to change plans last minute! ;)

 You can find these activities and more HERE.

 

Well, that sums up last week for the most part.

As you can see, I am kind of all over the place with lesson plans..

And unfortunately, sometimes winging it! ;)

 

And no matter what comes my way---

I'm still smiling about it! :)

 Because you know---we are pretty lucky to have such a great job!